Secret Santa: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

Good job Mr. Recommend-er! You just had me interested with the UC timeline of Gundam. I’d say I would actually want to explore more, like the recent Unicorn series, than write this post but I mustn’t! – at least for now. It was cruel of you to just throw me in the middle of the timeline when I don’t even know what Zeons are, what triggered the war and these factions to rise. I hardly know about Gundams but I took the chance to know more by picking this one from the choices so yeah…Kinda my fault as well, hahaha.
While I’d say that 08th Ms Team is not a for-avid-fans-of-the-franchise-only type of series, I wouldn’t say that it’s that friendly as well for those who don’t have a background. There are lots of hints that it is referring to something from other series for continuity purposes like the portrait of that certain Zeon. Things like this one didn’t get through me because I don’t know Jack.

I thought it would be unfair for me to rate this show if I would call up the lack of backstory knowing that when I researched about the show, it’s part of a bigger timeline. For example, I don’t know if Shiro’s past in the colony is part of a different series (or at least in terms of timeline)

A short read in the Tv Tropes gave me the info that fans refer to this series as the hard(est) scifi from the whole(?) franchise and I really liked this aspect of the show. Eledore tapping frequencies to know enemy correspondence, Shiro and Michel changing a gear in the foot of the Gundam and the more “laggish” movements of the robots (still better than Gunvarrel).

Probably the thing I best liked was the part when Kiki and the guerillas worked with the Feddies. This episode reminded me the Code Geass episode when Lelouch worked with Kallen in Shinjuku ghetto. Character development was nice despite the pace and regardless of how convenient the meetings were for Shiro and Aina. It’s just that I believe that things went way too smooth. Shiro technically didn’t fail any mission and it was way too predictable that he’ll get the good side of the guerillas. I was hoping that there would be more internal conflict in the team but you can hardly call the one with Michel.

Maybe it was because of the reason that it was too short? I was hoping to have Shiro suffer more on the idea of killing the Zeons despite being in love with Aina, and vice versa as for Aina but nothing much happened from that angle to gauge how resolved or naive these two are. The last episode where the guerrillas were involved might be an example of that but I was looking for kills in a much closer scale of relationship like Norris for Aina.

Things progressed quite fast, in my opinion. Whether it’s due to it being an OVA, I don’t know. All I know for sure is things were rushed especially during the last few episodes. I wasn’t happy that there wasn’t a proper epilogue for all the characters. “And then the war ended” That was terrible dialogue I have to hear from this series. I had a feeling that things would have been better if other things were shed to light like what really happened to Odessa. I didn’t fully understand the appearance of Yuri Kellerne and what it was for.

Overall, it was a great watch. The characters were likeable. Shiro was never annoying despite his newbie attitude. I expected a lot because it was the second highest rated Gundam OVA (as per anidb) next to latest Unicorn and was honestly disappointed because of my expectations. This is largely due to me expecting that it would branch out more into the plot but I saw it more focusing in the romance side. This is just me trying to understand more about the universe since I hardly know anything but then they suddenly cropped everything else when Shiro and Aina went into the limelight. Which is also okay for them to do so but I would have liked it better if they were able to wrapped things up nicely instead of simply saying that the war ended days after the events of episode 11.

In the end, I was hoping it would deliver more because I really liked the series. Unfortunately, that won’t happen because it’s only 12 episodes. Which then leads to my segue that the series is a good series to kick off your interest to the Gundam UC timeline. You’d end up hoping for a continuation thus leading you to other series in the timeline that would hopefully fill the void.

So yeah, I’m on way right now to catch the Unicorn train.

Again, thanks to RT for organizing this and to the person who recommended me this show!

P.S Merry Christmas everyone!!! Also, I’m starting to think that Michel is the reason for the online slang “bby”.

I'm pleased that you got to enjoy this show even without having prior knowledge of the Universal Century. It's not strictly needed, not right now at least. There's a war, the guys in space are fighting the guy on Earth, and that's pretty much it.

(I wasn't your Secret Santa, though)

The 08th MS Team has a lot invested in verisimilitude, and the Gundams are anything but the indestructible weapons we're used to in AU Gundam. The fight between the 08th and the Gouf Custom is one of the best in the franchise.

If dipping into another UC Gundam, I'd recommend the classic 0080 War in the Pocket as another short stand alone OAV series that takes place about the same time, is newbie friendly, and has a fantastic staff of legendary anime creators working on it.